Lab Work

So I haven't posted much in a while, and I thought I'd share some pictures I've been taking up at the dental school this summer. These cells are mouse skull cells that have been stained for various proteins. The blue pics are stained with DAPI, which simply reveals the nucleus of each cell. The red is for PPAR gamma, a protein associated with fat cells. And the green is for insulin receptor proteins, which are found concentrated on the surface of fat cells. Why the fat cell staining? Because when we delete a certain gene in skeletal cells, RUNX2, the cells can spontaneously form fat cells. Interesting, huh?